Why we need an independent ABC more than ever

Ranald McDonald

You want to shout from the rooftops about how dumb an ABC board or management decision seems to be, criticise an on-air interviewer for rudeness or lack of preparation, or just say that everyone expects better from our publicly funded National Broadcaster.

The ABC must be preserved as an essential source of information and entertainment. Photo: ABC

My challenge is to keep a sense of proportion and recognise what to me is the bigger picture: that the ABC must be preserved as an essential source of information and entertainment – an alternative voice in a democracy where many voices and sources of information need to be heard.

As a former ABC board member said to me, he and others sitting in judgment on the performance of management and staff have to filter the cacophony of criticism from competitors who benefit from a battered public broadcaster (the Murdoch empire looms large in this) and also the ideological views expressed with such force and certainty by those who resent funding a huge monolith.

My view is simple, some would say over simple: the ABC is far from perfect, but this country desperately needs a strong ABC financially able and committed to fulfilling its charter requirements for all Australians.

Further, it needs for it to be free of political interference.

Advertisement

Currently, the Turnbull government is pressing for the Senate numbers to bring about media ownership "reform".

The proposed changes in reach, content and frequency for the commercial media will have two results.

You will now receive updates fromBreaking News Alert

Breaking News Alert

The current media groupings will become more powerful and also more attractive to financial predators with little interest in content or their own investment longevity.

With that further media accumulation there will be a corresponding greater reliance on the ABC to service the rural and regional communities and provide journalism in "the public interest".

The term "public interest" may appear outdated, but it is a key argument in combating the view that social media coupled with the various platforms available to the main media players will ensure diversity of information and in-depth reporting on serious issues that need to be aired and debated.

Most of the really important investigative stories have been researched and broken by the Fairfax Media newspapers (The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review) and in partnership with, or singly by, the ABC.

So the ABC Friends, in trying to fulfil its two prime roles as supporter and critic, is launching two initiatives.

The first is a national plebiscite – welcomed by ABC CEO Michelle Guthrie – in which over three months the state and territory ABC Friends organisations are encouraging feedback about what Australians really want from "their" ABC, to find out where the ABC "shareholders" believe it falls short of expectations and what it might do better in the future.

A friends' detailed "vision" for the ABC is also being promoted so as to stimulate the national plebiscite.

All responses will come to the national body's website, abcfriends.org.au, or through its state bodies and then be collated, published and sent to the ABC management and board members.

The friends' second initiative is to launch a "defenders" campaign to fend off attacks and prospective funding problems or legislative controls.

Prominent citizens are part of the drive, but many supporters of our public broadcaster have indicated they are keen to take part and will be featured on Facebook.

Ranald Macdonald is a spokesperson for ABC Friends and was managing director of David Syme and Co. Limited (publisher of The Age) for 19 years.